Dart



Dec. 5, 1939. F. LOWY 2,182,296

DART

Filed 001:. 31, 1938 Patented Dec. 5, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT 2 OFFICE Application October 31, 1938, Serial No. 238,030 In Great Britain November 4, 1937 6 Claims. 01. 273-1065) This invention relates to darts of the kind wherein the tail end of the dart or of a separate flight holder connected to or mounted on the dart is provided with a plurality of prongs, which may be formed by separate elements or a single element which is axially split or slotted over part of its length, the flight being mounted between said prongs.

According to the invention, in a dart of the kind set forth a cap is mounted on the tail end of the prongs of the dart or flight holder, so as to embrace said tail end, and hold the flight in position.

The invention embraces a dart of the kind set forth, wherein the flight is formed, recessed or apertured to clear the tail end portion of the prongs of the dart or flight holder, a cap adapted to be mounted on the tail end of said prongs being provided for compressing together said prongs and thereby causing the prongs firmly to grip the whole of the portion of the flight engaged therebetween.

The flight may be shaped or constructed in any suitable manner, but however the flight may be made, the prongs project tailwards beyond the portion of the flight engaged between them and a cap is mounted on said projecting portion of the prongs.

Various embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 shows a complete dart made according to the invention and Figs. 2 to 4 show various embodiments, Figs. 2 and 3 being drawn to a larger scale.

Referring to Fig. 1, the dart therein shown comprises a body I, the forward end of which carries a pin or point 2, which is a press fit in the body. The rear end of the body I is fitted with a flight holder 3, which has an axial slot 4 and another axial slot (not visible in the drawing) disposed at right angles with reference tothe slot 4, the two slots forming four prongs 5. Four is a convenient number for the prongs, but three or more than four, and even two prongs may be provided, the slots being then suitably arranged for this purpose.

The body I is made of a comparatively heavy material for example brass, while the flight holder 3 is made of a comparatively light, but strong material, and it has been found convenient to make it of an aluminum alloy. The flight holder 3 may be attached to the body I in any suitable manner; by way of example the flight holder 3 may have a threaded extension at its forward end which is screwed into a suitably tapped bore in the rear end of the body. The bore in the rear end of the body I conveniently extends for example half way towards the forward end of the body to lighten the rear part 5 thereof, thereby improving the balance of the dart.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 the flights 5 are recessed asat l to clear the tail end of the flight holder. A" cap 8 is mounted on the tail end of the flight holder 3, having for its object to compress together the prongs of the flight holder and thereby to grip firmly the whole of the portion of the flights 6 engaged between said prongs.

In Fig 1 the element 8 comprises a streamlined cap provided with a knurled portion 9 for facilitating handling. The tail end of the flight holder is of reduced diameter for the reception of the cap 8 and the reduced portion and the inner wall of the cap may be smooth and the cap may be a frictional fit on the reduced portion. However, while the clamping element 8 has the tendency to drive on the end of the flight holder when the dart strikes the board in play, it may happen that the clamping element rebounds on impact and flies off. To avoid this undesirable contingency it is convenient to provide a detachable interlocking arrangement between the clamping element and the flight holder. Such interlocking arrangement may be of any suitable construction, but convenient embodiments are shown in Figs. 2 and 3 on a larger scale.

In Fig. 2 the reduced tail end of the flight holder prongs 5 is threaded and the cap I0 is provided with a female thread and is adapted to be screwed on the tail end of the-prongs. In Fig. 3 the cap l l is provided with an inner bead I2 at its edge and a corresponding groove 13 is formed on the reduced tail end of the prongs 5, into which the bead l2 may be sprung to provide detachable interlocking.

In the embodiments hereinbefore described the flights may be of any suitable construction and of any convenient shape. For example, two flight elements, each substantially of the outline shown chain dotted in Fig. 1, form the complete flight, each element being folded along its axis of symmetry so that the two wings formed are at right angles to one another and one element is inserted into two adjacent slot portions so as to embrace the prong th-erebetween from inwards, the other element being similarly inserted to embrace the diametrally opposite prong, the clamping element being then mounted to compress the prongs.

In Fig. 4 a conventional type of flight 20 is provided, which is folded in well known manner of a square blank, forming four wings in cruciform arrangement, each pair in one plane representing a square, as shown. The blank is apertured, for example by providing congruent apertures at equal distances apart from the centre of the square blank symmetrically bisected by the diagonals, so that when this blank is folded in usual manner a composite aperture 2| is formed, which clears the tail end of the flight holder to enable the cap 8, to be mounted thereon.

A dart constructed according to the invention has numerous advantages, the flight is firmly held in position, without the possibility of its becoming loose or falling out. There is no slot or recess of any kind on the dart wherein another dart could lodge and split, break or damage the flight holder, as often happens in play with certain known kinds of darts. Moreover, where a pointed cap is provided as shown the dartbecomes per fectly streamlined, whereby its flying qualities are improved. Finally, a dart such as shown in Fig. 1 is of smart and pleasaing appearance, whereby its commercial value is greatly enhanced.

I claim:

1. A dart comprising a body, a point at the forward end of the body, a flight holder at the rearward end of the body, longitudinal prongs to said flight holder extending to the tail thereof for gripping a flight element therebtween, and a cap mounted on the tail end of the prongs to embrace said tail end and hold the flight in position.

2. A dart according to claim 1 wherein the cap and the prongs are provided with detachably engaging interlocking means.

3. A dart according to claim 1 wherein the cap is internally threaded and the prongs are exteriorly threaded to enter the threads of the cap.

4. A dart according to claim 1 wherein the cap is provided with an inwardly extending bead and the prongs are provided with a groove for receiving the bead.

5. A dart according to claim 1 wherein the flight holder element is provided with slots for a portion of its length and its solid end is secured to the body, and the cap embracing the outer end of the flight holder is hollow and of streamlined formation.

6. A dart according to claim 1 wherein the flight is formed to clear the tail end portion of the prongs of the flight holder, and the cap telescopically fits the tail end of said prongs and compresses the same together thereby to cause the said prongs firmly to grip the whole of the portion of the flight engaged therebetween.

FERENCLOWY. 

